Star – Zion

By: Gladys Luna

Carlotta (Queen Latifah) and Cassie (Brandy Norwood) meet at Carlotta’s house while she is decorating the Christmas tree. Cassie tells her that she is done with Xander (Chad Michael Murray) and now she is helping the cops to get him down. As it is expected, Carlotta is worried that her sister will get in trouble for it, but the other woman asks her to stop being worried about her because she is back for good.

Simone (Brittany O’Grady) and Angel (Evan Ross) are spending some time together while the man is hidden at the trailer that once belonged to Jahil (Benjamin Bratt). Simone tells him that they need to tell Carlotta about his current situation, but Angel refuses claiming that he doesn’t want to get anyone else involved. Also, the girl suggests that maybe they should ask for Nina (Camila Banus) and Mateo´s (William Levy) help since they have some good connection but, once again, Angel rejects the idea.

Alex (Ryan Destiny), Simone, Star (Jude Demorest), Miss Bruce (Miss Lawrence) and Carlotta are together at Gravity Media holiday party where everybody seems to be having a great time. They all spot Mateo from afar and Miss Bruce confesses that Nina has finally left him much to Simone´s surprise who starts to ask some questions about it, but then they are interrupted by Jackson (Matthew Noszka) who now has taken the stage and is asking for Star to join him. When the woman is walking towards him, he tries to meet her halfway while he talks about everything they have been through. Then, he puts himself on one knee and takes a black box out of his pocket while Star and everybody in there looks at him in awe. Suddenly, they are interrupted by a man that hands her a yellow envelope. Star opens it and finds a cease and desist notification saying that she can´t perform one of her most famous songs at the upcoming festival. They all meet at the office and the girl blames Maurice (Lance Gross) for it, but he says that he had nothing to do with it so Carlotta tells her that she must come up with a Plan B instead.

Jackson follows Star outside the building and he expresses that he is upset that his proposal got ruined, but the girl tells her that they are not ready to take that step yet. Right that moment, Lil Dini (Marcos Palacios) comes out and confesses to her that he was the one who sent her the document making her go mad about it and letting him know that as soon as the baby is born she would come after him.

Cotton (Amiyah Scott) is having a conversation with Ms. Pat (Patricia Williams), one of her clients, while Jayden (Trayce Malachi) awaits impatiently for her to finish. When he can´t wait any longer, he interrupts her and tells her to hurry up so they can go visit Santa. Ms. Pat gets annoyed by the kid’s behavior and tells him that Santa doesn’t exists. She leaves the place while Cassie gets in and tells the little boy that if he doesn’t behave well then Santa won´t come. She and Cotton have a talk where she tells her niece that they are family whether she likes it or not and she wants to make it up for her and the damage she had caused.

Ruby (Juanita Jennings) and Alex share some time together while they confess how much they have missed each other. Alex feels that there are some things she needs to work out for herself and be recognized for who she is and not just a shadow of her father. When she is about to leave, Derek (Quincy Brown) walks in and they have a very strange encounter.

Later that day, Bobby (Harold Perrineau) and Miss Bruce are spending some time together when Noah (Luke James) walks in and the older man pushes himself away from her so his son won´t find out about them. When he asks if they are together, the man denies it making Miss Bruce feel bad so she has to walk out of the place. Alex, Star and Simone are having an interview about the festival when suddenly Chloe (Draya Michele) starts to ask some questions that make Alex to start having a panic attack. Carlotta interrupts the interview while the other girls try to calm her down.

Bobby looks for Miss Bruce to talk to her and apologizes for his behavior. She tells him that even though she loves him, she is not going to hide herself for him. When the man hears her confession, he kisses her and then Noah walks in and watches them and gets mad because Bobby lied to him again. He says that he could have been fine with them been together but not with his lies, so he leaves the place in a haste.

The girls are together and ready to start a presentation they tell how much they´ll miss all of that once they are done but try not to think so much on that. They decide to enjoy their upcoming presentation.

Derek and Ruby are at a community kitchen and having some fun. Then, the woman walks out of the kitchen with a tray of food and suddenly she drops it and freezes on her spot when she sees Mike Mike (Patrick Lamont Jr.) at the far end of the place. Derek approaches to her and realizes about the situation. He is ready to go over Mike Mike but Ruby stops him and asks him to take her home instead.

R&B Festival day has finally arrived, Simone receives some flowers sent by Nina who dedicates her some sweet words to her and says goodbye. Right that moment, Angel shows up while Simone hides the card she was just reading. She is scared that somebody may see him there and get him in trouble, but he doesn’t care. Mateo shows up and is immediately threatened by the girl that if he turns him in, she´ll tell about his money problems. Mateo tells her that he was once like Angel so he only cares for her to go sell his movie.

Alex breaks into Ruby´s place looking for the woman´s pills. Suddenly, Derek shows up and points at her with his gun until he realizes that is Alex the one that is there. She tells him why she was trying to steal the pills and asks Derek to tell her why he has the gun with him. He comes clean about what he has been doing and they end up hugging each other. He knows that she should be at the R&B Festival, so he tells her to go and fight for what she wants.

Since Star has no song to perform, Jackson has convinced Noah to let her sing with him. She decides to show up with the other man in tow. Star finally agrees, but before she tells Jackson to “ask the question again.” The man puts his forehead against hers and when is about to propose, she yells that her water just broke.

Cassie goes to Xander´s office and steals some money from his safe. When she is about to leave, the man arrives with another woman so Cassie goes and hides behind a door. She takes her gun out and when she is about to shoot him from where she is hidden, she suddenly stops saying that he doesn’t even deserves a bullet.

Star is now at the ambulance along with Simone, Jackson, Noah and Carlotta. The baby is finally born revealing that he is not actually Jackson´s. The man disappointment makes him leave the girl´s side while she tells that she didn’t know about it. Later, Simone and Star are already at the hospital where the blonde confesses to her sister that she had no idea that she was having Noah´s baby. Simone also takes a moment and tells her that Angel has come back to be with her and that she has decided to ask for Mateo´s help with his situation. Star asks her to call for Noah and Jackson and when they enter the second asks for her permission to hold the baby. She agrees and he holds him for a minute before she hands it to Noah. Jackson then walks out of the room.

Back at the R&B Festival we see Mateo, Carlotta and Maurice are losing it trying to find someone that can be presented on the main stage. Right at that moment, Alex shows up and asks for a chance that is finally granted by the team. She hits the stage and ends up being a complete success.

Carlotta and Alex are at keeping some company with Star when suddenly Jackson walks in. The girls walk out to give them some time to talk. Jackson says that he has been thinking a lot about their current situation and he has just decided to move out of the house.

Noah confesses to his father that he just found out that he had a son and is scared to not be good for him, but his father tells him that he is going to be great. Carlotta and Cassie are having fun chatting and cooking together when Calvin (Ben Vereen) walks in carrying presents. Carlotta asks him to go away and he ends up confessing that he has Alzheimer’s. Back at the community kitchen, Ruby ends up alone with Mike Mike. When the man sees her, he smiles devilishly her way and says that she must miss him. Ruby confesses that he is the only man that has taken her pride, but tonight she will get it back. It turns out that the woman has poisoned his food and within seconds he is lying dead on the floor. Ruby leaves the place while singing “Holy Night.” In the meantime, we see Noah as he is looking at a picture of his son while driving, Jackson leaving the house he once shared with Star and Simone and Angel having some time together.

Somewhere in Atlanta a TV is turned on with the news Star´s new baby born. As the camera moves on, we see Charlene (Nealla Gordon) sitting at her couch while she is saying “Merry Christmas” to no one in particular. Back at Carlotta´s, Cassie receives a video call from Xander who tells her that just in the same way she took something from him, he has taken something from her. He then puts Jayden on the screen.

When one storm has passed, another arrives. I can´t wait for “Star” to come back! ¡Hasta la próxima!